Fire alarm

“ The general scheme of a fire-alarm telegraph system embodies a central office to which notice can be sent from any number of signal boxes of the outbreak of a fire in the district covered by the box, the central office in turn calling out the nearest fire engines, and warning the fire department in general of the occurrence. Such fire alarms can be exchanged automatically, or by operators, and are sometimes associated with a large fire-alarm bell or whistle. Some boxes can be operated by the passing public; others need special keys. ”

“ My dear Judy:
I may report that you need no longer worry as to our inadequate fire protection. The doctor and Mr. Witherspoon have been giving the matter their gravest attention, and no game yet devised has proved so entertaining and destructive as our fire drill.
The children all retire to their beds and plunge into alert slumber. Fire alarm sounds. They spring up and into their shoes, snatch the top blanket from their beds, wrap it around their imaginary nightclothes, fall into line, and trot to the hall and stairs. ”

“ Fires can grow quickly, and individuals may have as few as 2 minutes to evacuate. Working smoke detectors give people more time to escape fires. At least 94 percent of American homes are equipped with smoke alarms, yet most home fire deaths happen in homes where smoke alarms are not working. By installing and maintaining working smoke alarms on every level of the home, having a fire emergency response plan, and evacuating if the alarm sounds, families and individuals can be ready to respond to a fire. ”

“ For the efficient use of apparatus, a well-drilled fire department is required. Watchmen particularly should be thoroughly trained in the use of appliances for combating flame, and should be familiar with the positions of valves, hose, and buckets. Aid in their work is given by an excellent electric fire-alarm, which is gradually coming into use in the mills of New England. It announces instantly, in both engine room and office, the point at which a dangerously high temperature or fire exists. ”

“ This feature of the bell is invaluable to tourists and travellers, and affords ample protection against surprise or robbery. As a fire alarm it can be adjusted to ring at any degree above the normal temperature, and will at once give the alarm should a fire break out in any room in which it is placed. ”

“ The whole presented a scene of the wildest alarm, confusion, and license. Vociferations, oaths, shrieks, and outcries of every description stunned the ear. Night was turned into day. The awful roaring of the flames was ever and anon broken by the thundering fall of some heavy roof. Flakes of fire were scattered far and wide by the driving wind, carrying destruction wherever they alighted, and spreading the conflagration on all sides, till it seemed like a vast wedge of fire driven into the heart of the city. ”

“ While the fire raged as yet unchecked,—while walls were falling with shock and crash of thunder, the streets full of galloping engines and ambulances carrying injured firemen, with clangor of urgent gongs; while insurance patrolmen were being smothered in buildings a block away by the smoke that hung like a pall over the city,—another disastrous fire broke out in the dry-goods district, and three alarm-calls came from West Seventeenth Street. ”

“ Because approximately 80 percent of last year's fatal fires occurred in the home, every family should develop a home escape plan. If a smoke or fire alarm sounds, everyone must react quickly. When away from home, we need to make it a habit to locate the nearest exit in any building we occupy. Most important, we must never reenter a burning building.
By following these basic safety rules, we can save lives and reduce the risks to our Nation's firefighters. Every 16 seconds, a fire department responds to a fire somewhere in the United States. ”

“ A place, called the alarm-post, is generally appointed at which the troops are to assemble when an alarm is given.—Alarm is also the name given to several contrivances in which electricity is made use of, as a fire-alarm, by which intelligence is at once conveyed to the proper quarter when a fire breaks out; a burglar-alarm, an arrangement of wires and a battery in a house intended to set a bell or bells ringing should a burglar attempt to gain entrance. ”

“ As it only requires a few men to handle this en-gine, and the mere throwing over of a lever to get it under way, it is used at many small fires, and is sometimes the first and only piece of apparatus to leave a station in answer to an alarm, for there is no regular “assignment” of engines and ladder-trucks sent to the alarm-boxes in Paris, as is the case in our cities, and the operation of their fire-alarm system differs from that of any other city in the world. ”

“ Then, suppose 19that I find the fire making such headway that we are unable to control it. Then I go to the box again and sound the third alarm, and that brings up every available engine and hook and ladder company within a reasonable distance. When that third alarm sounds in an engine house, every fireman knows that there’s a big and dangerous fire to be fought, and every man goes out with a keener sense of his own responsibility than he would on an ordinary call.”
“How often does the third alarm sound?” asked Bruce, who had been listening with intense interest to the chief’s words. ”

“ It’s only by constant practice that we can be 25kept always on the alert. You know that at sea they often ring a false fire alarm, just for the sake of keeping the ship’s fire brigade in practice. Now Captain Murphy will show you the tender, or hose wagon as they used to call it.”
Accordingly the captain showed Bruce the two great coils of hose, and the different nozzles fitted for different emergencies, and he told him how the hook and ladder truck served at a fire very much in the same capacity as the sapper and miner corps in the army. ”

“ By pulling the hook down inside, the number of the box is telegraphed to the headquarters of the fire department, and the operator there sends another dispatch notifying the different engine houses in the immediate vicinity 18of the fire. This alarm comes in to us in the shape of sharp strokes, indicating the number of the alarm box. This is what we call a first alarm, and you will notice that there is a gong here in the box which rings when the handle is turned. ”

“ If a spot is half red and half white it means that the station houses two companies, one engine and one hook and ladder. Green is for an emergency squad. When a fire alarm is sent in we know that certain companies will go out, say 12, 18 and 30. By moving plugs I darken their lights. We can tell by a glance at the map just how our forces stand. ”

“ In one town no relation or employé of the owner receives a reward. In other cities no rewards are given for calls to a fire in a dust-bin or a chimney.
No true fireman would be annoyed at a false alarm given by mistake. The possibility of a fire, or the suspicion of one, is a bona fide reason for a call which should not be discouraged. Malicious alarms should, however, be treated with the utmost rigour, as the absence of firemen from their stations always means an extra risk to life and property. ”

“ For one thing, there was small need of explanation of the alarm; for from the neighborhood of the pavilion there was an unobstructed view of the opposite shore of the lake and the extent of the fire’s spread. Already the flames were making a wonderful spectacular display, which served as most effective warning to the cottagers of the need of haste in forming their fire brigade. It was almost like a warship’s crew obeying the call to quarters, so hurriedly did every able-bodied man turn out for service. ”

“ One of the most interesting features in the American fire-system is the extreme ingenuity that is exercised to insure the speedy arrival of the apparatus at a fire. As has been said, in less than a minute after the alarm-box has been pulled the bells are ringing out the alarm all over the city; and—incredible as it may seem—sometimes in ten seconds after the alarm is rung, the engines have left their stations with steam up and every one prepared for work! ”

“ There’s a gong here, too, you see, as well as down stairs, and when the alarm rings, the fireman jumps out of bed and, you might say, right into his turnout, pulls the trousers up and runs for the sliding pole, and there’s a race every time to see who will get down first. The driver and engineer always sleep next to the poles so that they can get down ahead of the others. Down stairs there are two men on duty all the time at night. When the alarm sounds and the horses run to their places, these men must be at their heads to snap their collars and hitch the reins to their bits. ”

“ A slight blaze had started in some cotton waste in a five-story brick building used for manufacturing purposes, and by the time the firemen arrived the smoke was pouring out of the upper windows in dense clouds, while the workmen and women were escaping, bareheaded, to the street, many of them coming through the big door on the ground floor, while others, in their anxiety to save themselves, came crashing through the lower windows and jumped to the sidewalk, heedless of the flying splinters of glass. ”

“ The fact that the fireman can hear and count correctly the strokes of the gong in his sleep has meant life to many hundreds, and no end of property saved; for it is in the early moments of a fire that it can be dealt with summarily. I recall one instance in which the failure to interpret a signal properly, or the accident of taking a wrong road to the fire, cost a life, and, singularly enough, that of the wife of one of the firemen who answered the alarm. ”

“ Oatway has examined the fuses under different conditions, and his conclusions are drawn from practical tests. Great intelligence will not be required to appreciate the force of his arguments. Inasmuch as the rise of temperature caused by a fire is relative, during the early stages at least, to the general heat of the atmosphere, it becomes obvious that an automatic fire-alarm should be one which will keep parallel, as it were, with fluctuations of natural heat. ”

“ It’s death to put your finger on one of them; and there’s no one but a regular employee of one of the electric companies that can handle them with any safety. Then there’s that chap from the gas works; he has a badge because he’s a useful man, too. Sometimes a stream of water thrown into a room will break a chandelier short off and then the gas escapes and there is liable to be an explosion when the flames reach it.”
“You’re wanted, Bruce!” cried a grimy fireman, as he rushed up to where the boy was standing. ”

“ A passer-by may happen to see flames while the fire is in an early stage. On the other hand, it is equally probable that the conflagration may be well established before the alarm is given, with the result that the fire brigade arrives too late to do much good. ”

“ When the cord is destroyed the springs make contact and the alarm is sounded. A metal having a very low melting temperature may be used instead of the cord, and the alarm will [412] be sounded when the temperature exceeds a certain amount and the actual occurrence of a fire thus prevented. In some cases, the fire-alarm switch may be completely destroyed and the alarm circuit will then be opened and the bell will cease ringing. To prevent this trouble a small electric drop may be placed in the circuit, the arrangement being similar to that shown in Fig. ”

“ There is nothing that arouses one more suddenly and fills one with more alarm than the cry of “Fire!” in the middle of the night. In a few minutes all the people living on the place are aroused. The alarm is sounded for the only engine in town, but what can one engine a mile distant accomplish when a stable filled with hay is on fire?
The first thought is for the horses; and they, terrified at the noise and excitement and fast-gaining fire, refuse to leave their stalls, running back when they are released [279] so soon as they catch sight of the flames. ”

“ The minute the engine starts, the connection with the pipes underneath is shut off automatically, and then as soon as the wheels cross the threshold of the building, the fire is lit, and as the swift motion of the street acts as a sort of draught, there is a big blaze going in less than two minutes. ”

“ For example, suppose our company were to be called out to-night to a fire, and I were to find on arrival that it was in my own district, I would take command, even if another battalion chief were to be present also. In the same way he would take command, if the fire were in his district. But, suppose I find that the fire is a big one and in danger of spreading. I go to the box and sound the second alarm, which brings up an additional force. ”

“ About an hour after the accident, and while the inmates of the hotel who had been startled by the lightning and thunder were still awake, and in some alarm, a smell of fire was perceived to be pervading the house. The landlord at once rose and proceeded to investigate the cause, and was led by the odor of burning wood to one of the cellars in the basement, where he found the small gas-pipe fixed to furnish it with light melted for several inches, a large flame issuing from the improvised gap, and a beam of wood a little above the blaze already on fire. ”

“ Downing had never been able to induce the headmaster to allow the alarm bell to be sounded for fire drill at night. The headmaster, a man who had his views on the amount of sleep necessary for the growing boy, had drawn the line at night operations. "Sufficient unto the day" had been the gist of his reply. If the alarm bell were to ring at night when there was no fire, the school might mistake a genuine alarm of fire for a bogus one, and refuse to hurry themselves. ”